The Life of Amedeo Bocchi

Amedeo Bocchi was born on 24 August 1883 in Parma, where he attended the Institute of Fine Arts directed by Cecrope Barilli.

His talent is evident from his earliest works, like this small painting that depicts what the young painter sees from his room.

In 1901, at the request of Barilli himself, he enrolled in the Free Nude School of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. It is the first stage of a long road that will lead him through Italy to perfect his technique.

In 1906 he married his fellow student Rita Boraschi: a short marriage (the woman died in 1909), from which Bianca, the only beloved daughter of the painter, was born in 1908.

After having participated in the Venice Biennale in 1910 and in the Rome Biennale in 1911, from 1913 to 1916 he dedicated himself to the decoration of the Council Chamber of the Cassa di Risparmio di Parma.

For the bank he created some frescoes dedicated to the theme of savings, an impressive work that was highly appreciated by the critics of the time, but also contemporary.

In 1915 he moved permanently to Rome to one of the studio-houses in the park of Villa Strohl-Fern, made available to artists by the Alsatian patron Alfred Strohl. This will be his home until his death.

In 1919 he married his model Niccolina, with whom he spent a few years of happiness, in a daily life marked by family tranquility and painting.

The mother, daughter Bianca and wife Niccolina, pictured here having breakfast in the garden, tell better than many words the serene everyday life of the painter.

However, it will not be a lasting period, because Niccolina will fall ill and die in 1923, leaving him again a widower a few years after the wedding.

His daughter Bianca, a favorite subject of his painting of those years, will help him overcome this new mourning.

In 1926, with this work, Bocchi won the first prize at the Exhibition on the Female Portrait of Monza.

Alongside the family affections and glimpses of Villa Strohl-Fern, Terracina inspires his painting. After a first visit in 1911, the Lazio town becomes a favorite destination for summer stays.

The sunny vision of Terracina, the typical costumes, the simplicity of everyday life and the hardships of work become the subject of study and many of his works.

Bocchi dedicates many portraits to the women of Terracina (Terellane), depicting them with typical, rich and colorful costumes.

But Bocchi has to experience another terrible loss: his daughter Bianca dies in 1934. In the last portrait that her father makes of her, the young woman's face is already pale and tried by illness.

The mournful events strongly marked him pushing him to withdraw from the world, to keep away from what happens beyond the walls of the garden of Villa Strohl-Fern.

His, however, is not a withdrawal from art, which is his only reason for living.

In 1972 he received in Parma the Gold Medal of Merit of the School of Art and Culture, granted by the Ministry of Education.

Painting and his Roman home are his refuge until the end of his days.
He died on December 16, 1976, painting.

On the easel there is the unfinished painting "The Gardener", evidence of his inexhaustible bond with painting.